


Just the One Thread

by yosjiefo



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: F/M, Male Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-09
Updated: 2016-08-09
Packaged: 2018-08-07 14:14:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7717891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yosjiefo/pseuds/yosjiefo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>“Just the one thread does the trick. You can keep it safe until we're old enough to get married, OK? Until then, the friendliest of fates will keep us together, Percy!”</i> The years pass, yet no sign of the dark mage can be seen for miles...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just the One Thread

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this like two months ago and didn't touch it until now life is Real  
> in any case i highly recommend reading ophelia/percy's c-s supports and hisame/percy's c-a support for background before reading this but you don't have to really. you do you, bro.

 

**ACT 0.  
“BEFORE THE END”**

 

_“Just the one thread does the trick. You can keep it safe until we're old enough to get married, OK? Until then, the friendliest of fates will keep us together, Percy!”_

 

“.......”

  
“Percy?”

  
The blond turned sharply in his seat, so sharply, in fact, that in the split second after he had been called for, he tumbled to the ground unceremoniously. A sigh only escaped the person opposite him’s lips. Percy quickly picked himself back up, rubbing the side of his chin that had made contact with the carpeting below, and he used the chair that had teetered over to its side as his support.

  
“Hisame? What are you doing here?” he asked, still composing himself and pushing the chair back upright.

  
The samurai watched him with a blank gaze, nodding. “I was called to fetch you. No one’s heard from you for hours.”

  
“Hours?” Percy chortled. “I’ve only been here since noon!”

  
“It’s time for supper.”

  
“...Oh, I see.”

  
Hisame took a few steps forward, approaching the other as his eyes fell upon the table now behind the wyvern rider. He took a few moments, taking a subtle breath inward before he gestured towards it, “What have you been working on?”

  
“Huh?”

  
“If you’ve been here all day, then you’re working on something right? You train most hours; you don’t study.” Hisame looked around the blond’s private quarters, his eyes scanning it for some sort of hidden answer amongst its surprisingly neat space— a fact he assumed was only true because its owner rarely used it, leaving little opportunity for a mess to be made in the first place.

  
“No…”

  
“No?” Hisame repeated. It was a while before he got any sort of response for the two stood in silence. Percy kept his fingers curled around the top of the chair in front of the desk, and Hisame’s gaze grew stronger on the other. The former, after a bit of debating, began to grin, even if a bit uncomfortably, leaving the piece of furniture and moving towards the samurai. The unannounced movement only prompted a small step back from the brunet, though he did little to resist the sudden shove from his peer.

  
“You said it was dinner time, right?” Percy turned his head to face Hisame again, though his hand still remained at the ready to continue to coerce him out of his room. “What are we waiting for? I’m _starving_!”

  
“H-Hey..!” the taller of the two stammered out a small protest, though it held no elaboration as the two made their exit towards the mess hall.

  
And left behind was a single thread colored red on the desk.

 

**ACT I.  
“TWO YEARS AFTER”**

“Hisame!”

  
“Ah,” the brunet turned to face the person who called him. When he saw who it was, his stern face softened up, the smallest of smiles working its way to his surface. “It’s been a while, Percy.”

  
The blond nodded. “You still look the same as ever though!”

  
“Do I now?” Hisame snuck in a chuckle. “Would you like some tea? I was going to make some myself.”

  
Percy hesitated but in the end gave a nod even after a bit of a delay. “I’d love to!”

 

『 ・・・ 』

 

The two were on their knees opposite one another, a serene silence hanging over the two. Hisame brought a cup to his lips, and, without much of any idea of what else to do and fear of offending him, Percy followed suit, gulping it down. He cringed, settling the cup back down with a bit more force than necessary.

  
“Is it not to your taste?” Hisame asked.

  
It took no time at all for the Nohrian to shake his head, “No, it’s just…”

  
“Hm?”

  
“Stuff always burns my tongue!” he cried, “I don’t know how you guys drink this stuff.”

  
Hisame chuckled. “You learn with time.”

  
Percy frowned. “I don’t have to make a fool outta myself every time, do I?”

  
Hisame shook his head. There was another pause before he changed the subject, “What brings you to Hoshido?”

  
“Eh? Oh, yeah! I guess you wouldn’t know.” There was a certain giddiness to the blond’s movements, the way his eyes shined, the way his lips curved into the biggest smile in just an instant, the way his hands shook with excitement as he fumbled through the bag he had carried in with him— it all was there.

  
Perhaps his own energy was contagious, for as the older of the two watched him, he could not help but feel at least a little bit of anticipation as well. He knew not what could cast such a potent spell onto his peer to render him so happy, but he couldn’t help but wish to divulge into that same magic as it spread.

  
At last, Percy had finally wrestled through his belongings and he took out a box, placing it down on the low table between them. Hisame changed his focus from the man before him to this mysterious container, his smile naturally falling as he examined its detailing. It was worn, evidence that the other clearly had not just bought it out in town lest he was swindled or visited a very poorly maintained antique store, but even then, its make resembled no Hoshidan design in style. No, it must’ve been something from elsewhere.

  
These thoughts nagged him, for he finally asked, “May I… see what’s inside?”

  
Percy nodded, pulling up the lid. His smile was all the same, though his fingers steadied, and his movements were slow. Even if it seemed as if the male was ready to make a reply of any sort, he simply allowed his actions to carry forth the answer the other looked for, and in his care for his possession, he performed the action himself, allowing his peer to merely watch from his passive distance.

  
Hisame peered into it, and amongst the black cushioning inside, there was a single thread colored red. There was a long pause as the brunet gathered his own thoughts, and he took in a deep breath, unsure how to react to this revelation in the face of a man who now looked upon its simplicity with an adoration that carried with it maturity unparalleled by his previous child-like excitement. “You hold this dear, don’t you?”

  
The blond nodded again. “It’s the best thing I’ve been given!”

  
Judging by the way he had been acting, Hisame could make a pretty good guess that the other not only treasured it, but he also had a large amount of pride in it for whatever reason. He mulled over its significance, though in the conversational dip that followed, Percy began to babble as if all the times before he had kept his mouth shut were too much to bear.

  
“She told me when she wrapped this around my pinky and hers that she bound us together,” he hummed, his face glowing with a nostalgia-induced smile, “and this thread represents fate. Neat-o, huh?”

  
“Ah,” Hisame’s eyes lit up, “I think I know of that tale. Lovers fated from birth are connected, and finding the person at the other end is one’s life-long quest. I didn’t think it would be popular amongst Nohrians.”

  
“Is it a Hoshidan thing, then?”

  
Opening his mouth, the brunet closed it after a bit, unsure himself of the answer. Nevertheless, he replied with, “I had thought so. Who told you anyway?”

  
A hush fell over the two, and Percy hesitated to look Hisame in the eyes, instead his gaze falling upon the box he had brought. His big, proud grin from before weakened, faltering so until it became more distinctly melancholic, his eyes shimmer as if he were about to cry, the crease in his forehead formed by his furrowing brow only encouraging it. He heaved a big sigh, turning the box to face himself now and pulling the string out. He began to wrap it first loosely around his pinky finger, and his mouth finally moved with the accompaniment of syllables. “Ophelia.”

  
“Oh,” Hisame’s face further fell. His lip quivered slightly, his lack of social contact throughout his adolescence proving to be his downfall in this conversation. All he could provide was a grimace and a soft, “I’m sorry.”

  
Percy’s hand grew more forceful, for what had started as a loose knot had transformed into him surrounding his finger as tightly as possible, the flesh of his skin from underneath his gloves expanding outward on either side. He concentrated his sights on his hand and his hand alone, and with one last, large tug on the string, he answered, “It’s okay.”

 

『 ・・・ 』

 

“Say, Hisame, what have you been doing lately?”

  
Percy’s kicked his legs in the slightly cool water, his own restless behavior becoming apparent as the two sat down by a river. Where Hisame sat cross-legged beside the flowing water, his peer had freed himself of his boots and dipped his feet, allowing himself to enjoy the light pressure being applied as the stream waved between his toes. The sun hung overhead of the two, indicating that the hottest hour of the day was soon to dawn upon them.

  
“Me?” Hisame asked, though he already knew he was the one being addressed, for there were no other persons in their vicinity. He looked into his reflection in the water, an image so distorted by the light current that it hardly seemed efficient to use as any sort of mirror, as he answered, “I mostly research nowadays.”

  
“Huh?” Percy turned his head. “You mean you don’t fight anymore?”

  
Hisame shook his head. “I’ve given up the way of the sword. It didn’t suit me.” He paused before asking, “Do you still fight?”

  
“Mmhm!” he nodded. “Ace and I joined the Nohrian knights!”

“Even though there is no longer a war to fight? And there is no desire to conquer?”

  
“But there’s a land to protect!” Percy was quick to respond. “That’s what heroes do; they defend!”

  
Hisame smiled, “Of course. I suppose if you joined the Nohrian knights, then you have no intentions of becoming a royal retainer for Lady Elise’s child?”

  
“I dunno… I thought about it, but…”

  
“But what?”

  
Percy gave a bit of a kick in the water again, splashing some forward— away from the two. “Pop did it, I know, but he saved people all the time! I’m not like him; Ace and I can only find a dropped purse and return it. If I devoted myself to one person, I’d only be defending them, not everyone.”

  
“But her child is still royalty, is she not?”

  
“A royal’s important, okay, but so is everyone else! I learned a few months after the war ended that there’s a whole _world_ living underneath Windmire! How can you just toss all those folks aside for one person?”

  
“Not everyone is suited for the life of a retainer.” There was a bit of a moment before Hisame continued, “I suspect you wouldn’t be very good at it, anyhow.”

  
“Hey!” Percy cupped the water from the river and threw it the brunet’s way. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  
Despite any initial disgust at being doused, Hisame broke into a soft chuckle. “Relax.”

  
Percy pouted, “No! Tell me! Tell me!”

  
“A retainer is dutiful to their job, but… you wouldn’t be. That’s not a bad thing, however.”

  
“Oh?”

  
“You still have a good heart. You may reach for impossible dreams, but your resolve for the larger scope of things is still admirable.”

  
The two stared at one another for a while before Percy looked back down into the water again, his face beginning to show hints of becoming flushed in embarrassment, though a smile was still present as he responded, “Eheh, thanks, Hisame.”

 

『 ・・・ 』

 

“Forgive me for asking again, but what brings you to Hoshido?”

  
Night had fallen over the two, and the stars were shimmering brightly. It had been nothing but cloudy darkness for the past few weeks, so the two had decided to gaze at the natural light show from the back of Hisame’s house.

  
After a bit of reluctance to say so, his face looking elsewhere sheepishly as he scratched the nape of his own neck, Percy admitted, “I… I was looking for Ophelia.”

  
“Ah, yes, I had heard she had… disappeared.”

  
“Her whole family too,” Percy added. “The morning after the war was done… I never saw them again.”

  
“I can’t say I’ve seen her either,” Hisame spoke, “so your search may very well not be fruitful here.”

  
“That’s okay,” Percy’s tone lowered. “Say, Hisame…?”

  
“Yes, Percy?”

  
“Do you… Do you think I’ll ever find her again?”

  
There was a striking sense of desperation behind the blond’s words, and it was this quality that made it difficult for the brunet to look the other in the eye and be able to tell him his true suspicions. Instead, he stared skywards, and eventually Percy followed suit.

  
“It sure is pretty tonight!” the wyvern knight exclaimed after a long quiet.

  
“Percy,” Hisame addressed him, exhaling deeply. Percy turned his head to look at him, staring at his profile that remained focused on the stars above. Still, Hisame continued, “I think one day you might.”

  
Percy’s eyes grew wide, and the seconds flew by. Hisame lowered his chin and looked towards his peer with a reassuring smile, and it was with that smile that poured out kindness that triggered the blond to regress, his eyes spilling tears he had been more prone to showing a couple of years before— a time when he, no, all of them had been fresh out of their little “havens” in the astral plane.

  
Hisame reached his hand out to the other’s shoulder, his touch light and feathered by hesitance and social awkwardness despite his conviction, and the two remained quiet save for the hiccups of the Nohrian and the soft words of the Hoshidan: “She’ll come back one day.”

 

**ACT II.  
“FOUR YEARS AFTER”**

 

The marketplace was bustling. The crowds roared with all sorts of noises— laughter, pitches, cries, hollers, etc. It was the busy time of day, when life was thriving the most even in the underbelly of Windmire. This proved unfortunate for Hisame for attempting to navigate the area at all became a monster of a task, and he couldn’t help but feel as if even his patience was wearing thin. Perhaps it was a comfort to know that even Nohr truly lived, but it was unfortunately more inconvenient now. Even when within an alliance with Hoshido, it seemed as if the nation plagued by darkness suffered food shortages still, and buying a decent supply of food for his trip here became more of a mission than it was a mere chore.

  
Hisame sighed, and in his attempt to maneuver through the crowds to visit the various stalls, he had bumped into far more people than he anticipated, and he consequently offered more polite apologies than he had expected, his words becoming more mechanical with each delivery. By the most recent collision, he hadn’t even bothered to turn around to face the other person, merely starting, “I’m so--”

  
“Hisame? Is that you?”

  
It was now that the brunet turned, his eyes slightly more wide in surprise as he felt the other grab his shoulder. When he turned, he was greeted with a familiar face that quickly changed to offer him a cordial grin.

 

『 ・・・ 』

 

“Now, what brings _you_ to Nohr, huh?” Percy had asked once he had pulled the other out of the centre of movement and onto a stroll back to Hisame’s temporary residence.

  
“I’m studying still,” he answered coolly. “You can give me one of those bags, you know.”

  
Percy shook his head, keeping a firm grasp on the groceries. “This is the least I can do! They’re not even heavy. See?” The blond lifted the bags up all at once with ease, his toothy grin marked with confidence and pride.

  
“Fine,” Hisame gave in, “If you insist.”

  
“I do!”

  
The two continued their walk like that, but it did not take very long for Percy to pipe up again. “How long are you staying here?”

  
“Hm,” Hisame thought it over, “I don’t know.”

  
“You don’t?” Percy began to feel concerned.

  
“I never gave my research deadlines. I still have a lot to learn about Nohrian culture and its history to help give more perspective to Hoshidan history. It’s admittedly been a bit difficult, however…”

  
“If that’s all you wanted, then you could’ve asked me!”

  
“...How much do you know?”

  
“Er… Not much!”

  
“I figured.”

  
“H-Hey, I still can help you somehow, right?” the blond tried to save himself, “I’m sure a guy in my legion has to have his hands on a buncha history books!”

  
Hisame offered a smile, “Thank you. Just… don’t pester the poor guy, okay? Whomever he is.”

  
“Ha!” Percy laughed, “They’ll all be fine!”

 

『 ・・・ 』

 

“What kind of girl was Ophelia anyhow?” Hisame had asked out of the blue as the two put away the supplies he had bought in the capitol. The two had arrived at their destination, the remainder of their walk consisting mostly of idle chatter— the kind of words one treasured due to its concept and ambience but not for its content for its actual substance was akin to sludge. It would be forgotten in perhaps an hour or two, and asking any party involved the specifics or perhaps even just the general topic would result in the “um”s and the “uh”s of sinking conversations.

  
“Is. What kind of girl _is_ Ophelia! Gee, she’s not dead or anything.” Percy pursed his lips as he searched his memory of years past, halting his actions and leaning his elbow on the nearby counter in the extremely small kitchen. “She’s the loveliest gal I’ve ever met.”

  
“Clarify yourself,” Hisame lightly scolded him, understanding that every girl seemed lovely in some sort of vague way to his own father and even moreso to himself.

  
“Ophelia,” Percy restarted, “has the kind of voice that makes your heart flutter.”

  
“Your heart flutter?”

  
“Like the wings on Ace’s back!” Percy nodded. “Have you ever flown, Hisame?”

  
“No,” Hisame shook his head.

  
“Well, you’re missin’ out! It’s the bestest feeling you’ll ever have— to know that you’re above everyone else and are a heck of a leap higher… a whole lot of a distance closer to touching the heavens, thinking you _can_ touch the sun if you tried hard enough— _that’s_ the stuff life’s made of! There’s nothing more dandy than reaching your hand out to grab a bit of the clouds.”

  
Hisame stopped too, turning to look at Percy. “...What do you feel like afterwards? When you’re on the ground?”

  
Percy’s smile fell for a second, his face scrunching up. “Well, it’s kinda sad,” he started, and as if with just a flick of the wrist, his eyes lit up again, “but then knowing you can be up there again is what brings you up when you’re down!”

  
“And… this is comparable to Ophelia’s voice?”

  
The knight vigorously shook his head up and down. “Uh-huh. It’s one of a kind, and it’s the thing that gives me strength. I’d do just about anything to hear it again!”

  
“Strong words, pal,” Hisame joked.

  
“I mean it!” Percy cried. “She said the most whimsical things, things that made you forget about all the bad in the world even if she was talking of the worst of evils! It was pure poetry!”

  
“In a way that’s different than Mitama?”

  
“In a way that’s different than Mitama!” he repeated, oozing of confidence. “Way different!”

  
“I suppose it’s a shame I never heard her then.”

  
“You’ll hear her one day, Hisame!” Percy exclaimed, his fist slamming down against the hard surface of the counter he had been leaning on prior. “I swear it!”

  
Hisame sharply inhaled and bit his lip before letting it go and nodding, stammering out his words, “O-Of course you will. I’m certain of it.” There was a bit of a silence between the two before Hisame broke it, speaking up again though his head was turned away and his words were quieter, “I guess we should finish this up real quick…?”

  
“Huh?” Percy took a bit to register what was being said, and when he did, he blushed a bit in embarrassment over getting so easily distracted. “Y-Yeah, sure thing! Right to it!”

 

『 ・・・ 』

 

“That was great!” Percy’s voice rang out in the dead of the night, a smug and contented expression painting his face.

  
“Oh, it was nothing,” Hisame shook off the other’s compliment as he immediately went to work at scrubbing bowls, “I barely made anything. You’ve eaten far more than that on wartime rations.”

  
“Hmmm, maybe I have!” Percy hummed, “But food’s great whenever a friend makes it.”

  
Even with their encounters and his own mentions of their relationship, Hisame still couldn’t help but feel a bit sheepish and unaccustomed whenever the other directly talked about it in such amiable terms. His face grew a light pinkish tint, and he looked for some sort of escape in the conversation— a new route to change the direction it was heading.

  
He looked behind his shoulder to see notice that the other was taking something out of his pocket, and when he fetched it out and raised it to his free hand, it was easy to recognize it. “Do you bring that everywhere you go?”

  
“Hm?” Percy looked over to Hisame, stopping his work before he caught on. “Oh this?” He raised the red string, and without waiting for any confirmation, he nodded. “It’s a small memento until I find her again… It’s like a good luck charm for me!”

  
Hisame rolled his eyes. “You had the best luck in the army. No one else could chance upon an entire sky littered with shooting stars like you did.”

  
“Oh! You remember that?” Percy beamed, “Gosh, I’m glad!”

  
“Y… You are?” he stopped and stared at the other.

  
“Of course! It was one of the best memories I’ve ever had! Why, I’d relive that night a hundred times if I could!”

  
Hisame held his doubts for a hundred times seemed awfully excessive, but he couldn’t help but feel a smile of his own work its way onto his face hearing him say that. “Me too.”

  
The two kept their gazes locked, though there was no awkward tension hanging in the air. Instead, there was a sense of calm in the air that felt almost comforting as the two turned their mouths upwards for one another. Nevertheless, before long, Percy spoke up. “Hey, Hisame? Can you give me your hand?”

  
The ex-swordsman nodded, approaching the other and holding out his hand without any hesitation. The blond took the red string he had been holding idly and wrapped it around his pinky. It was only when he had tied it around his own finger that Hisame reacted, as if released from a spell, and his eyes grew wide in surprise. “H-Hey! What are you doing?!”

  
“Tying us together!” Percy’s voice came out melodic and with such enthusiasm that it sounded as if nothing could bring his flighty mood down.

  
“Don’t you--”

  
“I know, I know,” he cut him off, finishing off his knot. “But think of it this way: Until Ophelia comes back, I want to know someone’s by my side.” He paused and looked up at the other in the eye now that he was done his work. “Hisame, I want you to be that guy. I-I really think…”

  
It was now Hisame’s turn to interrupt the other, simply nodding and letting his own smile return as he responded, “Then I’ll be that guy, and I’ll be that guy… even after Ophelia comes back.”

 

**ACT III.  
“BEFORE THE END”**

 

“How’s being married?” Percy waved as he approached Hisame.

  
“The ceremony only ended twenty minutes ago, Percy.” Despite the harsh tone to his words, Hisame still greeted the other warmly, a scowl or any frown absent from his face.

  
“Well, you gotta live up the moment somehow, right?” Percy nudged the groom in his side. “Good for you! Congrats, ol’ chum!”

  
“Thank you, Percy,” Hisame replied, rubbing where the other had made contact. “I’m surprised you took your mask off for today.” He could recall hearing that the other refused to take it off even in the baths so long as another person was there, keeping it near him at all times just in case. To think that he would ever get the chance to see the other’s complexion at all had felt like some sort of ludicrous dream.

  
“Well, it’s a special occasion for you today, isn’t it?” Percy responded, “Consider it my wedding gift!”

  
“I’m touched.”

  
Even if Hisame was clearly being sarcastic, Percy maintained his goofy grin. His eyes hovered on his friend’s attire in interest, and he commented, “Man, I’ve never seen a Hoshidan wedding before. Even your clothes are different!”

  
Hisame laughed weakly and lightly. “You did stick out in the crowd, I’ll say. I could find you in a second from where I was.”

  
“Then you always knew I was there cheering for you!” Percy stood tall and triumphant. “Thanks too! Makes wearing this stuffy thing worth it!”

  
“And I’m glad you came. I was worried you’d be too busy.”

  
Percy shook his head, giving a good pat on the brunet’s back. “Never! I quit my job anyway yesterday, so you don’t have to worry!”

  
“Oh, is that so? Well, th--” Hisame started nonchalantly before the weight of the other’s words fully set in. His relaxed expression took a sudden turn, his brows furrowing and a stern frown evident on his face. “Wait a second. Excuse me? I surely didn’t hear you right.”

  
“Nope! You did! I’m a free man now!”

  
“But wait, I thought you loved your job. Didn’t you want to protect and defend your father’s homeland? Wasn’t it one of your wishes to be strong and someone for people to depend on?”

  
“It was! But… I’ve got to thinking ever since I got your wedding invitation in the mail a while back. I didn’t think you’d ever leave the bachelor club, but here you are, doing that! And I was the one who got proposed to first, so I was thinking… ‘Isn’t that weird?’”

  
Hisame opened his mouth to respond, but no sound came out. Percy continued onwards with his explanation, “And I was thinking again how you’d probably be busy soon enough with your wife and soon enough your own family and all that… I guess maybe I was feeling…” Although there was a clear word he wanted to use there, Percy hesitated, and he started on a new thought instead. “A-Anyway! I thought waiting for Ophelia wasn’t going to be enough, and now that you’re married, you won’t be needing me. So I’m gonna go find her myself! Maybe she’s been lost this whole time or something…”

  
“You don’t need to quit your dayjob to do that!” Hisame scolded him, his voice resounding in the empty room. “A-And that isn’t even remotely tr--”

  
“No, it’s fine, it’s okay, really!” Percy continued to beam. “I’ve had my mind dead set on this, trust me.”

  
There was a cold hush that fell over the two. Hisame’s panicked expression merely turned annoyed, contrasting heavily with how bright Percy’s remained. After some time, Percy cleared his throat. “Hisame? Can I have your hand?”

  
Although Hisame gave no response immediately, he heaved a sigh and slowly offered it to the other. Percy took out a small red string from his pocket, and he began to tie it around Hisame’s pinky first before knotting it around his own. When he was finished, he took a few steps back, raising his hand up to show his work.

  
Hisame merely stared at the blond in confusion, his look of irritation having left him midway through as he calmed his nerves down. “...What is the meaning of this?”

  
Percy’s expression softened in melancholy. “Do you remember what I told you when I first did this to you a long while ago?”

  
Hisame nodded. “Until Ophelia came back… You wanted me to be the person at your side, and I said I would be. I… have been, haven’t I?”

  
“Yeah!” Percy grinned. “I couldn’t have asked for a better friend all these years! I’m… really glad I got to meet you.”

  
“...As I am towards you.”

  
Another pause set in. “Well, I’m sure you’ll be a great guy for the gal I watched you swear your life to. I believe in you, and I know you can do it!”

  
“Wait, you don’t mean--”

  
In a flash, the thread had been snapped with a harsh force. The two still had little knots around their fingers that were raised skywards, but they were no longer connected. Hisame’s eyes grew wide, and he found himself at a loss for words whilst Percy maintained his smile.

  
The grin grew tainted, sickly sweet, _insincere_ in that very moment, and Hisame’s patience itself snapped as he balled up his fists, dropping his hand to his side. “Percy..!! You can’t be ser--!”

  
Despite his beginning of an outburst, Percy calmly stepped forward towards Hisame, bringing his index finger over his lips as his own silent way to interrupt him, and in the next moment, he wrapped his arms around his companion. He softly patted him on the back, and he brought his lips to his ear, whispering, “I know you’ll continue to be a great guy, Hisame.”

  
When Percy pulled away, Hisame shook and trembled. There were so many things to say in that instant, yet none of them came out, and he only watched as his friend took out his mask from his jacket’s pocket.

  
He began to walk towards the large doors that had been his entranceway, turning back towards the brunet with a somber smile as he gave a weaker wave than the one he had greeted him with. He pulled his mask over his head, and then just as he pushed the doors open and took a step out, he looked back again one last time, calling out, “I’ll find her, I just know I will! Ace and I’ll come back and we’ll visit you, so raise your chin up, pal!”

  
Hisame took in a deep breath, and as Percy finally left, he whispered out, “I hope you do.”


End file.
